New York ruling on medical criteria

A judge has ruled that asbestos liability claimants in New York County must meet minimal medical criteria before their case can be placed on an active court docket. He noted that only 2,000 of 21,000 claimants in the state actually suffered from asbestos-related malignant disease and a ‘small percentage’ of the others suffered from ‘sustained functionally impairing asbestosis’. Claims from the unimpaired, he said, were driving companies to bankruptcy and preventing the seriously ill from getting compensation. This move follows the model established by Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Washington.